HR vetting for Lankan military to undergo US training

by Lynn Ockersz-January 29, 2013

All security forces personnel opting for military training programmes in the US are expected to undergo ‘human rights vetting’ by the US defense authorities. Those against whom ‘credible reports of human rights violations’ have been filed would not be in a position to obtain such training, the local media were told on Monday, at a ‘round table’ discussion with a group of visiting top US government officials.

The officials were responding to a query by the media as to what the factual position was with regard to allegations in top local defense circles, quoted in some sections of the media, that some Lankan security personnel, who had applied for military training in the US, were not being granted this facility by the US authorities. US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia Vikram Singh said that in all training programmes of a military or educational nature, provided by the US for applicants for these programmes from around the world, a human rights component is present and that the relevant applicants are not expected to be found wanting in the upholding of human rights norms.

Singh underlined the need for the application of human rights accountability mechanisms for those opting for US military training. He clarified that his government was not being judgmental by insisting on the maintenance of human rights standards by security personnel but, in Sri Lanka’s case, was seeking to promote ‘a forward-looking engagement, in all relevant aspects.’ Rather than the US telling Sri Lanka to do this or that what the US was keen on finding out was, ‘what we could do together.’

He added that it was only a minuscule number of personnel who failed to meet the standards in question and that ongoing training and educational programmes involving Lankan personnel, in the main, were ‘very good.’ Singh explained that the visiting US delegation’s talks with Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa were very cordial and that greater military cooperation between the US and Sri Lanka depended on progress being made by Sri Lanka in the implementation of the LLRC recommendations.

When asked whether the US delegation sees any substantial progress in the implementation of the LLRC recommendations by the Lankan state, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Jane Zimmerman said that they ‘certainly see some progress, particularly in the areas of infrastructure development and the rehabilitation of former LTTE combatants, for instance’, but that ‘a lot more work ‘remains to be done. For example, ‘there are families still waiting for missing loved ones’ and ‘disappeared persons’ to be accounted for. ‘We would very much like to see accelerated implementation of the LLRC’, Zimmerman said.

‘Some elements of the LLRC are excellent. Some elements may be harder to implement than other, such as, those pertaining to accountability on human rights violations, but reconciliation and accountability must go together and we would like to see progress on the commitments made by the state in relation to accountability and other vital issues ‘, she explained.

‘The US cares very much about Sri Lanka, ours is a longstanding tie. We will still be here after March’, Zimmerman quipped.

Deputy Assistant Secretary James R. Moore said, among other things, that in all the delegation’s meetings with Lankan state personnel they discussed Sri Lanka’s efforts to implement its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommendations and National Action Plan and the ‘importance of accelerated progress to achieving lasting reconciliation and a durable peace.’ He said that the "Key to this will be transparent governance, as well as following through with a process of accountability for events at the end of the war, including civilian casualties and credible allegations of human rights violations." He said that the delegation had also discussed the importance of a vibrant civil society, an independent judiciary, a free and independent media and full respect for human rights.

Moore went on to say that the delegation ‘welcomes the government’s intent to have Northern Provincial Council elections in September and we encourage a resumption of talks between the TNA and the government.’